Malibu Doctor Treating Ebola in Africa Plans Homecoming

20 Sep 2014

A Malibu doctor and UCLA professor of the treatment infectious diseases, Suzanne Donovan, has taken to Sierra Leone in an effort to help the World Health Organization bring control and hopefully put a stop to the deadly Ebola virus, for which there is no cure. She is scheduled to return to the United States in one week.

Dr. Donovan left for Africa three weeks ago, according to local CBS affiliate KCAL-9 in Los Angeles. Her family has expressed deep concern for her well-being–particularly when considering a growing number of health workers who have contracted the disease–but her daughter Gabby Watkin, 15, says she knows her mother “is making a difference, which is important.”

Dr. Donovan’s son Max Watkin, 17, says “she’s always made a difference in peoples’ lives; always wanted to make a positive impact and help people.”

So far, four American aid workers have been infected with the deadly hemorrhagic virus and have been flown back to the United States for treatment.

On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that the United Nations Security Council deemed the Ebola outbreak a threat to international peace and security. The announcement prompted authorities in Sierra Leone to implement a three-day lockdown, beginning on Friday, and de-facto curfew in which all inhabitants are required to stay inside of their homes so that officials can go from home to home searching for infected victims that are in hiding.

Ebola has, since December, claimed the lives of more than 2,600 people. However, the World Health Organization has reportedly said that number is grossly underestimated, and that the toll is actually much higher. One Ebola expert predicted that up to 5 million people could die.